“Lot of f**king 3s being shot” - LeBron James makes brutally honest assessment of NBA’s current state
On Thursday, LeBron James was asked about his thoughts on the new All-Star Game format, which will see four teams play three games in a mini-tournament. The change comes on the heels of several years of experimenting when it comes to the All-Star Game format, in the hopes that the league can entice players to put their best foot forward.
While discussing the new All-Star Game format with media members on Thursday, LeBron James said that he has some ideas on how to fix the All-Star Game, but he didn't want to get into it.
He then pivoted, discussing the state of the NBA today amid reports of the league experiencing a ratings slump.
"We gotta do something. Obviously the last couple years have not been a great All-Star Game that Sunday night. But I mean, listen it's a bigger conversation. It's not just the All-Star Game. It's our game in general.
"Our game is... It's a lot of f*****g threes being shot. So it's a bigger conversation than just the All-Star Game."
James, of course, isn't the only member of the NBA community discussing the league's ratings over the past week. With reports suggesting that the league is struggling to draw in viewers, there's been tons of talk about what the NBA can do to turn things around.
LeBron James wasn't the only NBA star discussing the All-Star Game format today
In addition to LeBron James discussing the new All-Star Game format on Thursday, Kevin Durant walked back his previous comments about the changes. After going from East vs West to a schoolyard draft format, the league then began making changes to the formatting of the game itself.
We saw an Elam ending introduced, as well as a new mini-game format that saw each quarter scored as its own game. While the league is since returning to the standard East vs West format, the new four-team tournament didn't excite Kevin Durant.
After the league announced the new format earlier in the week, Durant was quick to criticize the changes. On Thursday, while speaking with Kay Adams, he walked back his criticism, saying that he shouldn't have criticized the NBA:
“I probably should’ve said something else, to be honest… I can’t be going up against the league like that, but that was my opinion. It’s like tournament-style. It’s not really my thing. But we’ll see, man. We’ll see. We’ll see if it’ll stick, and people start to like it, especially the players.
"The players are the ones that matter. So, we’ll see what happens."
While LeBron James didn't publicly criticize the new format, it sounds like he has his own idea of how the league can make the All-Star Game a more highly-anticipated event once again.